Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Steven Holden is the CEO and Founder of Copley Fund Research, an independent provider of research on equity fund positioning and performance.  Set up in 2014, Copley focuses on global, global emerging market, US, Asia Ex-Japan and China active equity funds, covering over $4tr in assets across 1300 active managers.  The company provides data and analysis on market trends, manager exposures and active fund performance to an audience of investment managers, pension funds and fund selectors worldwide.  Mr Holden’s 14-year investment banking career started in 2000, where he worked for Morgan Stanley as an equity derivative trader focused on emerging markets in London.  Following this, he spent 4 years at Citibank in London and Hong Kong as an Executive Director in derivative sales, focused again on emerging markets.

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Barron's Weighs in On "Frenzied Pops" Like Tesla Vs Wary Skeptics Like...

Tesla Into S&P - Rebal Details, and Implications for Vol and Active Portfolio Reconstruction

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>The percentage of US active funds invested in Tesla has risen sharply over the course of the year.  A total of 18%, or 88 out of the 496 funds in our US analysis hold a position in Telsa.  Average fund weights across all funds is 0.42%, across Telsa holders is 2.34%.  </li>
<li>Total dollar holdings are at peak levels among the funds in our analysis, with combined AUM in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tesla-motors-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20279:1" rel="noopener">Tesla Motors (TSLA US)</a> of $37.6bn among the 88 holders.  </li>
<li>Current holders have tended to sell in to strength this year, with $4.4bn in outflows as managers keep Telsa from dominating portfolios if left unchecked.</li>
<li>At current levels, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tesla-motors-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20279:1" rel="noopener">Tesla Motors (TSLA US)</a> will join the ranks as one of the top underweight holdings among active US managers, currently led by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/apple-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:666:1" rel="noopener">Apple Inc (AAPL US)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/microsoft-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15273:1" rel="noopener">Microsoft Corp (MSFT US)</a> .  If no further buying occurs, Tesla will likely slot in to 4th place behind <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/amazon-com-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:409:1" rel="noopener">Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US</a> (assuming an inclusion weight of ~1.5%).</li>
<li>We expect buying pressure from benchmark aligned funds who are currently not invested in the stock.  Estimates of $5.8bn when analysing previous index inclusions <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/facebook-inc-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:665:1" rel="noopener">Facebook Inc A (FB US)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/berkshire-hathaway-inc-cl-b" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8635:1" rel="noopener">Berkshire Hathaway Inc Cl B (BRK/B US)</a> .</li>
<li>Potential $37bn of selling from active US funds, though current holders are long-term holders and not guaranteed to sell in to the rebalance.  We see an imbalance of buying from passive funds who may need to push prices significantly higher to entice these long-term holders to sell.</li>
</ul><p><em>Analysis taken from our US research, covering 496 active US equity funds with a combined AUM of $3.4tr.</em></p>


The percentage of US active funds invested in Tesla has risen sharply over the course of the year.  A total of 18%, or 88 out of the 496 funds in our US analysis hold a position in Telsa.  Average fund weights across all funds is 0.42%, across Telsa holders is 2.34%.  
Total dollar holdings are at peak levels among the funds in our analysis, with combined AUM in Tesla Motors (TSLA US) of $37.6bn among the 88 holders.  
Current holders have tended to sell in to strength this year, with $4.4bn in outflows as managers keep Telsa from dominating portfolios if left unchecked.
At current levels, Tesla Motors (TSLA US) will join the ranks as one of the top underweight holdings among active US managers, currently led by Apple Inc (AAPL US) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT US) .  If no further buying occurs, Tesla will likely slot in to 4th place behind Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US (assuming an inclusion weight of ~1.5%).
We expect buying pressure from benchmark aligned funds who are currently not invested in the stock.  Estimates of $5.8bn when analysing previous index inclusions Facebook Inc A (FB US) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc Cl B (BRK/B US) .
Potential $37bn of selling from active US funds, though current holders are long-term holders and not guaranteed to sell in to the rebalance.  We see an imbalance of buying from passive funds who may need to push prices significantly higher to entice these long-term holders to sell.
Analysis taken from our US research, covering 496 active US equity funds with a combined AUM of $3.4tr.

Tesla Inclusion.  What Will Active US Funds Do?